OK, so maybe he is king of the world. The movie world, at least.
I'm talking, of course, about director James Cameron. On Tuesday, his sci-fi behemoth Avatar surpassed Titanic—also a Cameron-helmed film—as the highest-grossing North American film of all time. Cameron's blue-skinned protagonists pulled ahead of his tragic ship-sinking story by a margin of about $300,000 ($601.1 million to $600.8 million).
And that's just the domestic market, mind you. The previous week saw Avatar eclipse Titanic as the highest-grossing movie worldwide. As of Feb. 3, Avatar had raked in more than $2 billion internationally, compared to Titanic's former record of $1.8 billion. Both Titanic marks were records that many people thought would never sink.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Avatar's rush to the top has been the speed at which it's accomplished those feats. Avatar stole the crown in just 47 days. On day 47 of its cinematic voyage, Titanic had taken in "only" $311 million.
I have to confess, I've been checking Avatar's numbers at Box Office Mojo obsessively for a couple of weeks now. I'm not a huge James Cameron fan, and I didn't think much of Titanic. So I've been looking forward to seeing that that ship go down—even if it got torpedoed by another Cameron film that's not without some philosophical and content issues of its own.
Many have noted that Avatar's record-setting numbers need to be kept in comparison. Inflation and higher prices for 3D and IMAX screenings have accelerated the film's box office take, which makes comparing it to everything that's gone before something of an apples-to-oranges proposition. Titanic has still sold more tickets than Avatar. And when you factor inflation into the formula, Avatar clocks in at yawn-worthy No. 21 on Box Office Mojo's all-time list, in terms of North American sales. At the top? Gone with the Wind, a 1939 film whose $198 million gross (which includes subsequent theatrical re-releases) translates to a whopping $1.5 billion in today's dollars. So give Avatar an asterisk in the record books.
Still, if higher ticket prices were really that much of a contributing factor, you'd think we would have seen scores of films top the Titanic's numbers since its release 12 years ago. And that just hasn't happened. Only The Dark Knight got within striking distance. So maybe Avatar's numbers are a big deal after all.
As Scott Mendelson, film critic and pundit for Film Threat, Huffington Post and Mendelson's Memos wrote a couple weeks ago, "Avatar is showing consistency unlike any event film in recent memory, and it's not even close to finished. … With sell-outs still being reported left and right … and the awards race yet to factor in, Avatar may just be getting started. Let's see where the movie stops before we discuss asterisks and mitigating factors."
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